Decline in testosterone level could trigger Parkinson's disease

Washington, July 27 (ANI): A sudden decrease of testosterone, the male sex hormone, may cause Parkinson's like symptoms in male mice, a new study has found.

One of the major roadblocks for discovering drugs against Parkinson's disease is the unavailability of a reliable animal model for this disease.

"While scientists use different toxins and a number of complex genetic approaches to model Parkinson's disease in mice, we have found that the sudden drop in the levels of testosterone following castration is sufficient to cause persistent Parkinson's like pathology and symptoms in male mice," Dr. Kalipada Pahan, lead author of the study and the Floyd A. Davis endowed professor of neurology at Rush University Medical Center, said.

"We found that the supplementation of testosterone in the form of 5-alpha dihydrotestosterone (DHT) pellets reverses Parkinson's pathology in male mice," the researcher said.